To get a sense of meetup's success in aggregating poker players, the Austin meetup is now #3 in the nation, with 530 members. That's way up from the 10 members it had in July 2003, to the 70 it had in August 2003, to 250 in December 2004.
A lower-effort option that has also exploded is Yahoo! Groups -- I hadn't searched around for a while and found that now just about any city in the US has at least one, reasonably-sized Yahoo! Group around poker. So, if you are looking to find games, Yahoo! Groups may be a good low-rent alternative to meetup for your city. Just do a search for "boston poker" or whatever city you are looking for.
The advice I give to anybody linking up with strangers to play poker is: ask questions up front about structure, etiquette, buyins, etc. Make sure you're specific, and that you understand what you are looking for in a game. If you haven't played in person before, ask the host if it's OK for you to come by and check out the game before you buy in, if that makes you more comfortable. If you don't like the vibe of the host or the game, just don't play -- there are TONS of games in any city in the US these days so you have plenty of choice.
Another thing to bear in mind is that open forums for poker games like meetup and Yahoo! Groups tend to have an overrepresentation of folks who are running raked games -- many people do it for a living or semi-living. So decide if you areslotwilling to play in a raked game (besides the obvious consideration that money is being taken from the game, raked games are illegal in many states). Ask the host about the rake, and if they don't give you a straight answer that's also probably a red flag.
Games have wildly different character depending on the personalities of the host and the players, so the most important thing is to find a group that's compatible with what you want out of a game.
another tilt-bashing review
Slate has a very negative, but funny and well-written, review of Tilt, written by someone who appears to have at least a strong interest in poker and a great cynical sense of humor.
There are a lot of good little nuggets in the review, but this one most caught my eye:
Anyone who's watched professional poker knows it's filled with nothing but fascinating, superintelligent weirdos. These folks are blessed with the sort of mind that could calculate Wall Street futures, but are cursed with the sort of soul that longs for late-night Las Vegas card rooms.
My challenge to you for this week: re-write the above quote, but write it about 1-5 seven card stud players. Copy and paste into the comments section to start yours:
Anyone who's watched 1-5 seven card stud knows it's filled with nothing but _____, _____ _____s. These folks are blessed with the sort of _____ that could _____, but are cursed with the sort of _____ that _____.
I guess it's kind of a poker mad lib. If you happen to enjoy 1-5 seven card stud, feel free to write it about your own pet hate game.
web;https://biketournetwork.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/post-vacation-slot-online-news-tadj-carvajalw/?published=t
